Sacred Force
by InnocentDiamond
Summary: Danger lurks in Equinox, a buffer zone protected by the Sisters of the Scarlet Shawl. Two of them disappear, and the Night Queen unleashes a massive attack. Will the newest Sister save some boys who arrived by accident, or fight by her Sisters who still critique her every move?
1. Dangerous Encounter

"Huh...huh... Huh...huh... Huh...huh..."

A girl wearing a long, red shawl covering her upper body knelt down in pain. Her right hand clutched her abdomen while her left hand trembled, trying to hold her saber still. She breathed heavily in pain and tried to stand up. Another girl, also wearing a red shawl, stood in front of the first girl, wielding a rapier in her hands. "Get up."

"You know I can't. You're the one who did this to me. What do you want?"

"To be Elder Sister, that's all."

"Then why didn't you just say so? I would glad withdraw my nomination. Listen..." The first girl spat out a splatter of blood as she struggled to explain. "Whether we're blood sisters, step-sisters, half-sisters, or just Scarlet Shawl sisters, you will always be as close to me like a real sister. I would never cause you any harm."

"But you did! I knew it was too good to be true for us to be so close. Everyone started liking you, even the guy I like. I'm taking back what I lost!" The second girl lifted her rapier and stabbed the first girl in the heart.

"I'm sorry for everything that I did, no matter how big or small." The stabbed girl fell back against a cabinet and shattered some glassware. "Please forgive me. Farewell..." She lost her breath without mentioning the other girl's name.

The second girl took the first girl's saber and wiped both weapons clean of the blood on her own shawl. It all just blended in nicely, as if there was no blood in the first place at all. _What's done is done. There's no return, which means I can't go back to the Sisterhood either._

She fixed her shawl and moved forward to her next destination.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Meaning "equal night" in Latin, Equinox was the name of a sacred land faraway, created by the gods as a buffer zone to protect everywhere else from the evil that lurked in one specific area.

This land was monitored by the Moon Goddess herself, who passed her powers down to a young girl many generations ago. One day, the young girl was visiting her grandmother, but not long after entering the house, a wolf rushed in and attacked the family of two. Luckily, a hunter came by and saved the girl in time, but the grandmother sustained too many injuries and died of exsanguination.

The hunter raised the young girl as his own daughter and taught her every skill she would need to fight against the wolves plus the evil that later lurked in these lands. She grew up and took in other young girls who lost their families to this evil, teaching them what her late adoptive father taught her years ago. Because of her efforts as the very first Elder Sister, Equinox has in its present day to fight against that evil...

...the Sisters of the Scarlet Shawl.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"To your left!"

"No, your right! She **entered **from your left!"

"Heads up!"

As everyone in the crowd shouted, a blue-pigtailed girl lunged forward and turned around swiftly, slashing the incoming arrows into pieces with her bladed gloves. However, the arrowheads flew everywhere, and the other cloaked girls whined and ducked. "Not again..." she sighed.

"Everyone stop! Training is dismissed!" declared a silver-haired girl as the other cloaked girls packed up and left. She approached the first girl and shook her head. "Runo, when slashing arrows with your bladed gloves, you swing down, not sideways. That's how physics work."

"I'm not that good with physics, Julie..."

"Well, think of it this way. Slashing sideways does not bring the arrowheads down. Besides, this is the fourth time in which an arrowhead accident like this has happened since you started using bladed gloves. How about switching to another weapon?"

"I can't. My hands tremble when I prepare and arrow shot. Wielding a sword and shield is really heavy. The single-bladed axes have a high tendency of swinging back."

"What about a crossbow?"

"I never pull the trigger at the right time. Julie, what am I going to do? Bladed gloves are my weapon of choice, but I keep forgetting which direction to slash in. Different setting, different orientation."

"No one ever does the same thing in a different situation. Besides, let's eat now so we can practice earlier with less people here." Julie bent down and picked up the broken arrow pieces. "At least we can use this for compost. In real combat, we use metallic arrows, each made from different metals."

"That means my bladed gloves won't work."

"Well...there's a kind of loophole here. Metal arrows are more solid and fall easily. Wooden arrows break apart and disperse. That's as much as I know. Let's eat!"

"Sure, why not?" Runo tied up her bladed gloves and hung the pair and her shawl on her designated hooks. She noticed the red scratch marks all over her knuckles and fingers._ It's not exactly the softest weapon to touch, but at least I have the best control __over __this __compared to __all the others._ "Julie, what's your weapon of choice?"

"A pair of crescent-blade axes. I've practiced with them since I was a child, so they double as bladed boomerangs, in a way. Come on, you should meet the other sisters!" The bubbly sister dragged the blunette around tables to the center. "Girls, have you met our newest Sister yet? This is Runo. Say hi!"

"Hi Runo! I'm Mira."

"I'm Soon."

"My name's Chris."

"Paige speaking!"

"Chan. A pleasure to meet you."

Julie frowned and counted everyone in the room. "I know Daisy went out a few days ago, but we're still missing some people. Either way, we're all here to help you, Runo!"

Runo bowed to them all and stood up. "Thank you for the greetings. I'll strive to work hard now that I'm a Sister of the Scarlet Shawl."

"That's the spirit!" Julie squealed. "If only you knew how to slash wooden arrows properly during practice, we'll all be fine."

"Yeah...about that..." Runo laughed weakly as the Sisters all giggled. "I'll work hard on that, too. Trust me." With that said, she and Julie sat at a table and ate their food. "Wait. You said you practiced with your crescent axes since your were a child? How old were you?!"

"I definitely started around ten years around. It's all about starting early. Why?"

"You could lift an ax up when your were a child?"

"More or less. My sister Daisy uses crescent axes as well, so she was my trainer. Most of us joined the Sisterhood when we were really young. Then again, there was no way for any of us to control our fate. It's not our fault that the Mist Wolves attacked us and killed our family. At least I still have Daisy."

"Must be really lonely and tiresome being here."

"At first, it was. But the sadness and despair eventually all wear off after we all get to know each other better and train from day to night. You might as well as a lot now while you can. We still have a long way ahead of us."

"You're right." Runo took a bite of her rice and sighed. _Mom, Dad, I wish you two were still here..._

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"My compass is not broken!" screamed a brunette as he shoved the said device into a short blond boy's face.

The blond stepped back and pushed his glasses up. "Take it easy, Dan. The last thing you would want to do is break it even more by throwing it at my face. Maybe you're wearing something metallic interfering with the needle."

"No way, Marucho. It was still fine when we took a break minutes ago." Dan tapped the glass surface and watched the needle jump. "I think we took a wrong turn. Ace, can we see the map?"

A mint-haired boy unfolded his map and held it up by the corners. "Dan may be right. There's no mountain listed on the map anywhere. Baron, your binoculars please!"

"Let me look first!" Baron looked up everywhere with his binoculars and shook his head. "I think we went too far and got off the map."

"Baron, that's crazy!"

"Why don't **you **look at the map?!"

A taller blond boy rushed up and took a moment to regain his breath. "Guys, what time is it?"

"It's..." Dan took out his phone and answered, "...ten past five, Billy. What's wrong?"

"Don't you think the sky is becoming dark a little too early?"

"I agree." Jake came over and counted fingers. "We've been on this retreat for five days, and not a single day went dark before eight in the evening. Either that, or-"

"It's going to rain!" Dan screamed for the second time today. "Everyone find shelter!"

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Runo applied Daisy's homemade aloe vera cream onto the backs of her hand. "I guess my hands are too small for the bladed gloves. Either that, or the inside of the gloves triggered an allergy."

Julie shook her head. "I think they're just friction burns. If you want, I'll find a pair of softer gloves for you to put on so that the gloves fit and don't irritate your hands. Be right back."

Just when Runo twisted the cap back onto the bottle of cream, Chan ran over to frantically. "Oh, hi Runo! Have you seen Julie?!"

"Julie said she went to get me a pair of regular gloves. Why?"

"I wouldn't say that this is a big deal, but it can't be ignored either..."

Mira stepped out of the locker room and faced Chan. "Is something happening again, Chan?"

"Look at this." Chan took out her compass and tapped the glass, projecting a red, holographic map in the air. "Chris and Soon said that the skies are darkening quite early today, and I found some stray wanders—six, to be exact. I'm sure they have nothing to do with the sky, but we'd better find these people and bring them to a safe place. I don't think the skies are darkening because of rain."

"Thanks for the information, Chan. I'll go check it out first."

Runo put on her shawl and grabbed her gloves. "Mira, I'll go with with you. Chan, if you see Julie, just tell her that Mira and I went to check out what you found."

"Of course. Stay safe!"

Meanwhile, Julie came back with a pair of gloves to see Runo gone. "Chan, have you seen Runo?"

"She and Mira went to check on a few foreign people and will probably be back soon. What's the matter?"

"We're in trouble..."

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

Dan threw his backpack down and rested by the tree trunk. "I'm tired..."

"Dan, will you stop whining for once?" Ace grumbled. "It was your idea to come here in the first place."

"Hey! We all agreed to go on a retreat together!"

"Yeah, but it was mainly your idea to hike out here. You're getting us out of this mess."

"Guys, please stop!" Marucho begged. "Look, the sky's really dark. We need to find shelter now before it rains or hails. I hate hail."

"Then let's-" Dan stopped after a grumbling sound. "Ace, be quiet!"

"I didn't say anything."

"Then whose stomach was that grumbling earlier?" The others shook their heads. Dan turned around to look but saw a dark figure lunge at him. "Back off!"

All the guys hid behind the trees as they watched a wolf rush by with black mist drifting of its body. Its red eyes sent fearful chills through everyone. Baron took out his binoculars and looked. "Dan, what are we going to do now?"

"Beats me! But maybe this will work!" Dan stepped out and waves his red jacket at the wolf. "Come on! Get over here and leave!"

"Dan, are you nuts?!" the others screamed.

The brunette didn't hear and watched the red-eyed wolf charge forward. "See? I told you that it would—oh shoot!"

"Take that!"

Before the misty wolf could put its paws on Dan, someone lunged forward and kicked the wolf away. The wolf stood up and charged again, and the mystery person grabbed Dan aside and tumbled shortly downhill.

Shortly after, Dan opened his red eyes and looked directly at a pair of emerald irises staring back. "Um...who are you? Why are you on top of me?!"

"I can explain..."


	2. Acceptance Struggles

**Me: OH MY GOD I have not been here for two years. Funny thing is that I published the first chapter on my first day of sophomore year and didn't come back until today, which is the first day of senior year. AP classes plz -_-" Review responses!  
**

courtney. whipple. 12 \- Thank you!

violet2971 \- Thank you!

MagicxMusicxMelody \- I hope it wasn't too violent! I edited the stab scene quite a bit to make it less explicit. Then again, I changed the plot around as well. For once, Dan is actually not a completely stupid person! Well, you'll see.

Cup of Violet Tea \- Had the fix the scene to confrontation scene after I realized that it was too violent, but the idea is still the same! I still don't have a definite list of girls in the Sisterhood yet, but Alice won't be one of them, because I have my reasons.

Sugar Spice Rush \- Sorry to say, but that one will take a very long time! Unfortunately, internal conflict will be a major theme. Not to spoil, but Runo's probably the only important major person to have an internal conflict, and you'll see why.

DanielXRuno \- Thank you!

cherry-tree-of-life \- I think I exaggerated myself with the first chapter too, so I edited it to sound less harsh. The "steal her man" thing is probably the most difficult thing I will ever write... I don't think the Night Queen will appear anytime soon yet, but the rest is still a work in progress.

CookieDecor22 \- I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote that fighting prologue! The victim and the perpetrator in the beginning will be revealed much later, I expect. I will imply who uses what kind of weapon, but actual fight scenes might be limited.

**Marucho: For the purpose of this chapter, the author consulted an astronomer-**

**Me: NO, I DID NOT. All I did was look up "moon phases" on Wikipedia because the moon is relevant to the story somehow.**

**Shun: Please don't do that when writing an actual essay paper.**

**Me: I know, I know. Never use Wikipedia as a source. I don't own the rights to Bakugan or Red Riding Hood Sisters, so move on!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: ****Acceptance Struggles**

**xXx**

The wolf from earlier growled louder as it came closer. Runo heard the noises first first and immediately rolled further down the hill, still grabbing onto Dan. They stopped rolling by the time they reached flatter ground. Runo stood up and asked. "Are you okay?"

"Other than some back pain, I'm alright." Dan later stood up and brushed himself off. "What's with the red scarf? And you still haven't told me who you are."

She brushed herself off and held out her hand. "It's a **shawl.** Anyway, I'm Runo. I don't know why you guys are here, but this is a dangerous place."

"I'm Dan. Nice to meet-" While shaking hands, Dan saw the misty wolf a few feet in front of him and grabbed Runo by the shoulders. "It's back! Watch out!"

"Dan, get out! Let me-"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

Dan's haste earned him some deep scratches from the wolf's paws. Ugly black gashes ran perpendicular to his left arm as he cried in pain. Runo tried touching the wound but pulled back at the sight of black mist. "Dan, you're in serious trouble. Stay put and let me do the rest."

"Be...careful..."

_Sometimes I get bored when there's nothing to do, but then I get really scared when there __is something to do._ Runo put on her bladed gloves as she and the mist wolf slowly taunting each other by walking in a circle. In a split second, the Sister ran forward and struck her left hand down first. "Take that!"

The wolf noticed and bit the left glove. Runo then attacked the wolf with her right glove, making the creature fall back. It whimpered in pain as blood dripped from its back. The wolf lunged for Runo again, but she bent back, slaying the wolf by slashing its abdomen when it jumped above her. The carcass instantly sublimed into black mist.

Dan watched the short fighting scene in shock. _Unbelievable...how did she do all that?_ But the recurring pain in his arm interrupted his thoughts. "Runo, a little help here..."

"Don't worry, I'll be back." The Sister walked uphill to the forest path until she saw the group of frightened boys hiding behind trees. "Guys, it's okay. I killed the wolf, but your friend Dan is in trouble. I need you to find me some moonflowers."

"Moonflower...moonflower..." The guys kept repeating that word until Marucho gasped and took out a book. "Hold on! It's in my botany book here somewhere." After seconds of flipping pages, he pointed to an image of a white and yellow flower. "Night-blooming cereus! I saw some on our way here!"

"Great!" Runo cheered. "Now we need to act fast. Dan's wounds are very deep. I'm Runo, by the way."

"I'm Marucho. Billy and Ace will stay with you and Dan, while Baron, Jake, and I go looking for flowers. Come on."

Ace slid downhill first and saw Dan's ugly wounds. "What did you get yourself into? That Runo said that you were in some serious trouble."

"It was just a wolf attack that—ouch! Even talking hurts my arm."

Billy leaned over to get a look but jerked back after seeing come out. "Dan, I think your wounds are smoking and bleeding black. That's not normal."

"Didn't you see that wolf's red eyes?" Ace objected. "Of course it's not normal!"

Later, Marucho came back with moonflowers as Baron and Jake followed. "Runo, is this the flower you need?"

"Perfect! Thanks guys! Everyone, please stand back. I'm a professional." She pulled the petals off one by one and laid them on Dan's wounds. "It will sting at first but gradually release a soothing feel. Do you feel it?"

Dan clenched his teeth but let go and breathed. "Thanks for not telling me ahead of time, but I am feeling much better."

"Great! Now I just need to squeeze-"

Just when she tightened her pinch on the flower base, her eyes rolled up, and she fell down. "Runo? What happened?" Dan called as he tried to wake Runo up. "She's not responding!"

"Dan, there's smoke coming out of her left hand..." Jake pointed.

Dan pulled Runo's glove away and saw a few black scratches. "That looks just my wounds, but less severe. I wonder if..." He picked up the flower and squeezed drops of nectar on Runo's right hand. "Guys, we need to take her somewhere. After all, she saved our lives, especially mine."

"But we don't know where she lives." Ace reminded. "She appeared just as random as the wolf from-"

"Runo? Is that you?" The six conscious people looked up and saw a spiky-haired redhead at the top of the hill. "Oh no, what happened?! Bring her up here immediately!"

Dan carried Runo on his back and walked up the hill with the others following him. He leaned Runo against a tree and held up her left hand. "Can you save her? I think she got bitten by the wolf from earlier."

"Mira...is that you?" Runo whispered before passing out again.

Mira looked at Runo's small wound and then at Dan's large wounds. "Where did you get that from?"

"The wolf scratched me very forcefully."

"That explains the discrepancy. Even a shallow bite is many times more severe than the deepest scratches." She took out a small glass jar from an inside cloak pocket and poured it on Runo's wound. "I saw you squeeze moonflower nectar on her hand earlier, but what Runo needs a huge amount of the active ingredient. She should be awake soon."

"That makes more sense now." He held his hand out and introduced himself. "I'm Dan."

"Mira." The veteran Sister shook Dan's hand and then and held a finger below Runo's nose. "I should've arrived earlier..."

"Say what?"

"Ah!" Suddenly, Runo jerked up and hit her head against the tree. "What happened?"

"You got bitten by a Mist Wolf and didn't even know it." Mira answered.

"I did?" Runo held up her bladed gloves and noticed some teeth marks on the left one. "Oh yeah. It only bit my glove. I didn't think it pierced through the metal."

"Runo, you know how much more lethal wolf bites are than wolf scratches. That's the first thing that every Sister learns when she first enters. It's the Golden Rule."

"But how was supposed to know that it bit-"

"What are you to talking about?" Both Sisters faced Dan as he walked over. "Mist Wolves? Golden Rule?"

Runo was at a lack of words, but Mira stood up, bringing the newest Sister up with her. "I think we should return, Runo." She faced Dan and added, "Keep treating that wound with moonflowers, but remember to clean it every so often. You'd better leave while there's still sun."

"But there's no sun!" Before Dan could ask anything, Mira and Runo disappeared in an instant. "And they're gone..."

"What are we going to do...?" the other five sighed.

"Looks like there's only one thing that we can do." Dan turned on his flashlight and led the way. "We have to find Runo and her friend in order to find a way out of here."

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"Runo, I told you not to wander off! You're not ready to scout by yourself yet!" Mira lectured upon returning to the Sisters' hideout.

"But Mira, those guys were nearly attacked by the Mist Wolves! I couldn't just let them-"

"Calm down, you two!" Julie immediately returned to headquarters and heard the argument. "Mira's right. Runo, even if you did see a Mist Wolf attacking those travelers, you could've at least told her. Anyway, now's not the time to argue. According to the calendar, there's a full moon coming soon."

"I think it's a lunar eclipse, to be exact." Mira recalled.

"Make that a **total **lunar eclipse."

A chill went down the other two Sisters' spines as they grabbed each other in fear. "Um..."

"Also known as a 'blood moon'. You know what that means..."

Suddenly, all the the other Sisters except Daisy gathered in the lobby with mouths wide open. "Perfect time for the Night Queen to attack..."

Mira let go and faced Runo. "Now do you see how important it is to stick together at all times? The Night Queen can unleash maximum power under a full moon, and with such a rare event like a total lunar eclipse coming, there's no way she could resist. Over the yeas, we've lost many Sisters during rare lunar events. We don't want this happening again."

Runo gasped and bowed. "Sorry for not following directions, everyone."

"As long as you understand, it's all good." Julie walked over and patted the blunette's back. "Meanwhile, you should rest first, given that wolf bite. Then you should practice your offense and defense."

"**Especially **your long-range attacks, particularly after what happened today." Mira added.

After everyone else left the lobby, Runo went back to the training room to practice solo. _Why I can't do anything right? All I wanted was to save people, but then it ended up being a lecture._

The inside of the bladed gloves left red marks on the backs of her hands again, but Runo ignored the pain and continued slashing the wooden wolf dummy. Wood chips flew everywhere, and she eventually stopped when the wolf dummy deformed, as well as when her hands hurt to the point that she couldn't hold them up. "Why do my hands always hurt?!"

Runo entered the locker room to use Daisy's aloe vera cream but overheard Soon talking to Chris. "Although I agree with Daisy's decision to let Runo in, we're still very disorganized, Chris."

"Speaking of Daisy, she hasn't returned yet. How did Runo join in the first place? She's probably the only one among us who doesn't have a background in any kind of combat."

"Well, legend says that very first Sister also didn't know any self-defense until that hunter taught her."

"But she learned all that **before** creating the Sisterhood. Anyway, I need to sharpen my scythe again."

"Hurry up this time, because I need to sharpen my chakrams too."

_Even the two biologically youngest members of the Sisterhood can't look up to me._ Runo applied aloe vera quickly before leaving the hideout with her bladed gloves.

**~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~X~**

"Ouch! What did I step on?!" Dan tripped on something and fell to the ground. As he sat up to check out the bruise on his knee, he saw a shiny stone in front of him. "Stupid rock."

"It actually looks pretty cool." Jake picked up the circular stone and held it to the sky. A vague silhouette of a crescent moon glowed on the smooth surface. "Did you see that?"

"A shiny rock won't help us navigate through this mess." Ace argued bluntly.

"Guys, cut it out." Dan stood up and snatched the stone out of Jake's hand. "I'm not stopping until we find Runo and Mira."

"I find their red scarves bizarre." Baron critiqued. "They also seem to know a lot about the area, but this place is off the-"

"There you are!" A figured jumped out of a nearby tree and landed next to Dan. "Remember me?"

"Runo! I'll always remember your bright blue pigtails!" Dan joked, much to Runo's annoyance. "I knew you wouldn't abandon us!"

"Long story short, but this place isn't the best to navigate in at all. After long thought, I decided to take you all back to my headquarters!"

"Headquarters?!" All six boys looked at each other in shock. "Wow..."

"Trust me, you'll be safe there."

"I don't know, Dan. Last time, we got attacked by wolves." Billy reminded.

Marucho disagreed with the taller blond. "Based on common sense, this is our best **and **only option."

Dan turned and faced the group. "Marucho's right. What's there to worry about? Runo saved us last time, and bringing us back to headquarters is by all means safer than wandering around here. Runo, lead the way!"

_Even foreigners question my validity, _Runo stressed. Dan then added a wink to confirm his trust in Runo, making the newest Sister blush slightly. "If your leader agrees with me, then we'll have to go with that."

After walking a while, Dan sprinted forward to catch up to Runo, who was much farther ahead. "Runo, take my jacket. All you have is a shawl and short-sleeved clothing."

"I'm used to this changing weather. Won't you be cold?"

"Think of it as gratitude for saving us both times. If you can tolerate the cold, then we'll learn to do so too."

"If you insist." Runo adjusted her shawl and wrapped Dan's jacket around her shoulders. _What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

**Mira: I'm very stressed right now.  
**

**Me: Wouldn't Runo be more stressed, though?**

**Mira: Runo can be stressed as much as she wants, but I end up being BABYSITTER.**

**Julie: Let's just say that babysitting five guys wasn't Mira's forte, so neither is babysitting just one girl.**

**Relevant people: HEY! WE HEARD THAT!**

**Chris: That's everybody? I feel like we're missing-**

**Soon: *shuts Chris up before she says anymore embarassing things***

**Me: If you read the announcement on my profile, I'm going on hiatus starting today, which means updates will be rare. I will still be online. Anyway, review in the meantime!**

**Dan: It feels weird that your only active story features me and Runo...**

**Shun: So can I just go into hiding then...?**

**Me: Hmm. Good question. *walks away***


End file.
